Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops set out to board Z-8C helicopters on the flight deck of a Type 075 amphibious assault ship for an undated amphibious landing training exercise at an undisclosed location. Photo: Screenshot from China Bugle, an official media account of the PLA's news media center

Official Chinese media on Monday for the first time provided details of an amphibious landing exercise of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), showing an aircraft carrier group providing support for landing ships and drones deployed along with amphibious armored vehicles during the final landing approach.

During the undated combat exercise, Type 05 amphibious fighting vehicles of a PLA Army brigade boarded the Navy's landing ships at night, the military channel of China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

In the second day of the voyage, the landing ships detected two unidentified aerial targets. They provided target data to a destroyer escorting the landing formation and land-based aviation forces in a practice of sea-land-air joint measure to deal with emergency scenarios. 

Shen Yu, a member of the brigade, was quoted by CCTV as saying that it was the first time that he participated in a maritime joint command structure under a realistic combat scenario, seeing for the first time forces on the land, at sea and in the air integrated together.

"Our battlefield awareness is no longer one-sided transparent. We have multiple methods to launch counterattack, and our combat tactics are receiving more and more innovations," Shen said.

He recalled seeing the situation map at the bridge of the landing ship showing that opposing warships and vessels suddenly moved away from his landing formation. Some hours later he saw a friendly aircraft carrier group in the distance before he realized what support his formation had been receiving. 

During the final assault, the PLA forces started to conduct amphibious landing after the first wave of fire strikes achieved desired results. The CCTV report showed that the strikes featured missiles fired by warplanes and warships as well as long-range rockets and missiles launched from the land. 

Troops set out to board Z-8C helicopters on the flight deck of a Type 075 amphibious assault ship, Type 05 amphibious fighting vehicles disembarked from Type 071 and Type 072 amphibious landing ships, with aerial drones and ship drones serving as vanguards. In the air, Y-20 large transport aircraft hosted airborne troops parachuting. Under the aerial support of helicopters, the amphibious fighting vehicles made it to the beachheads, the report footage showed.

Song Zhongping, a Chinese military affairs expert, highlighted the importance of joint operations in amphibious landing operations. 

He told the Global Times that the amphibious landing ships carrying landing forces in transit voyages could be vulnerable targets in combat, and they must be protected by other combat forces, including destroyers, frigates, fighter jets and even aircraft carriers. These joint forces must seize air superiority and maritime control to ensure a safe landing operation.

The assault on beachheads is also a challenging and risky mission, so the landing forces are required to eliminate the defending forces using all available means as much as possible before the actual landing. Using unmanned equipment in the initial waves of the landing is a sound tactical choice, Song said.

Official media also provided details on the far seas training by the aircraft carrier Liaoning and Shandong groups in June. CCTV News reported that in an event, the Chinese side scrambled four fighter jets in dealing with opposing aircraft. The Chinese forces also sortied J-15 carrier-borne fighter jet to verify a high-altitude drone over sensitive waters for the first time.

"A decade ago, only our destroyers and frigates could reach this location, but the PLA Navy can now establish a matrix of attack and defend stretching for several hundred nautical miles," Jing Yongchun of the PLA Navy was quoted by CCTV News as saying.